* Tensions ease in Crimean peninsula after referendum
* Technical selling may limit gold's rise
* SPDR Gold Trust reports inflows
* Coming up: U.S. consumer price index on Tuesday
(Adds details, updates market prices)
By Frank Tang and Clara Denina
NEW YORK/LONDON, March 17 Gold prices fell more
than 1 percent on Monday, the biggest one-day drop since late
January, as a sharp rally in U.S. equities triggered
profit-taking after bullion briefly rose to a six-month high
earlier in the day.
Wall Street, as measured by the benchmark S&P 500 index
, rose about 1 percent as East-West tensions over Crimea
eased after many in the region voted to join Russia and the
referendum passed without violence.
Analysts said even though gold may extend gains in the short
term on geopolitical tensions and worries about China's economic
slowdown, the yellow metal is due for a pullback after recent
gains.
"Correction potential is building up, which would come into
play if the Crimean crisis were to ease," said Eugen Weinberg,
head of commodity research at Commerzbank.
Last week, gold posted a 3 percent gain, its sixth
consecutive weekly gain, after Russia reiterated its threat to
invade other parts of Ukraine, showing no sign of heeding
Western pleas to back off from a Cold War-style confrontation.
Spot gold was down 1.2 percent at $1,365 an ounce by
3:35 p.m. EDT (1935 GMT), having earlier hit its highest since
Sept. 9 at $1,391.76.
U.S. COMEX gold futures settled down $6.10 at
$1,372.90 an ounce, with trading volume on track to finish in
line with its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.
Gold's losses were limited after the United States and the
European Union imposed sanctions, including asset freezes and
travel bans, on a small group of officials from Russia and
Ukraine after the weekend referendum.
Technical selling and renewed liquidation by hedge funds
could also limit the precious metal's gain, analysts said.
Gold's recent rally to six-month highs may spark a further
jump to levels last seen in the second half of 2013, but fresh
highs could be followed by a slide back to three-year lows,
technical analysts said.
Traders now await the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on
Tuesday and Wednesday. The U.S. central bank is expected to
announce another $10 billion cut to its bond-buying stimulus.
New money has been flowing into gold-backed exchange-traded
funds (ETFs) as investors seek safety from riskier assets during
times of uncertainty. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the
world's largest gold-backed ETF, rose 3.29 tonnes to 816.59
tonnes on Friday.
Among other precious metals, silver fell 1.4 percent
to $21.13 an ounce. Platinum edged down 0.1 percent to
$1,460.50 an ounce, while palladium rose 0.4 percent to
$769.25 an ounce.
ALL PRICES AS OF 1535 PM EDT:
LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL
US Gold APR 1372.90 -6.10 -0.4 1361.90 1392.60 144,205
US Silver MAY 21.275 -0.138 -0.6 21.150 21.650 31,616
US Plat APR 1468.40 -1.20 -0.1 1465.80 1483.20 7,826
US Pall JUN 776.40 3.15 0.4 770.00 780.90 2,880
Gold 1365.00 -16.74 -1.2 1362.88 1391.76
Silver 21.130 -0.310 -1.4 21.160 21.620
Platinum 1460.50 -1.30 -0.1 1466.00 1480.00
Palladium 769.25 2.85 0.4 770.50 778.50
TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-DAY ATM VOLATILITY
CURRENT 30-DAY 250-DAY CURRENT CHG
AVG AVG
US Gold 156,364 160,123 184,909 17.76 -0.15
US Silver 32,732 75,035 58,131 27.64 0.87
US Platinum 9,597 12,945 13,117 19.04 0.67
US Palladium 2,898 8,161 5,683 20.83 0.61
(Additional reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi in Singapore;
editing by G Crosse)

Trending On Reuters

Markets Weekahead

With the Nifty breaching 8,500, sentiments are again bullish. But markets have been in the 8,200-8,600 range for some time and stocks across the board do not give the required confidence except for the liquidity factor. Many frontline stocks are not participating on the upside and the core sector is in a downtrend, writes Ambareesh Baliga. Column